Dear Nesting,

I looked at my creepy floating baby on the sidebar of this blog today to see that I have 50 days until the due date of my child.
50 days.
50 short, little, minuscule days.
And that is all.
So I am writing you Nesting, in hopes that you will come visit. Because as of today I am zero percent prepared for He Who Cannot Be Named. (With the exception of the two pictured outfits purchased by my overly excited daughter). And as of today I am less than zero percent motivated to help the preparation process along.
Also dear Nesting, if you happen to run into Nausea (or Morning Sickness as some people call her) tell her I can get along fine without her and to find someone else to grace her presence with. I've had my share of time with her and don't want to keep her all to myself. I am selfless like that.

thirty.

So, I'm thirty. I have been alive three whole decades. To sum up my life for you thus far,
the first decade I spent learning,
the second decade I spent acting as if I knew it all,
and the third decade I spent re learning it all over again by being a mommy.
There it is; the short version of my life story.

I just keep wondering if I am supposed to feel different? People keep saying how hard it was to turn thirty. As for me? Not so much. See, I can think of loads of things that were harder. For example:

It was harder to stay awake in astronomy in college.
It was harder to give birth... (wait, did I really sign up to do that again in 8 weeks?)
It was harder to watch my first child enter the school system.
It was harder to watch Tatiana make a freaking idiot out of herself on American Idol week after week.
It was harder to accept the call as den mother in the scouting program.
It was harder to sit through the "Curious Case of Benjamin Button".

So in a nutshell, I'm thirty now. And so far, so good.

Dear Sleep

Dear sleep,

Why have you forsaken me? I do not know what I have done to strike an offense so severe that would cause you to leave me so abruptly. I must admit, I miss you and your pillow soft arms.

I am not supposed to complain so much. I mean, I am still in my 20's (if only for a few more days...), but the absence of you leaves much to be desired in my health and general well being.

I am cranky with out you. I ache in spots I can't reach, and Sleep, you should be there to make it better! I mean, this is the hour I need you most... in 9 weeks I most assuredly won't spend much time with you, so why leave me now? You are not a very loyal friend to me, and my frustration with you is growing.

But never fear, I will always be waiting with open arms, willing to take you back.

All you have to do is ask.

love,
mel

dear husband II,

The last 24 hours I have realized something. What I mean is, I have been reminded of something.
I love you.
yep, promise. And if you remember me biting your head off with my words last night like an insane person, that was just a joke... I promise.
Truth is, I am an insanely pregnant person on the Colossal emotional roller coaster. I am looking forward to getting off soon. I would venture to think you, husband, are maybe even looking forward to this more than me. (that is just a guess though). It may be hard to believe, and I am SURE you will vehemently disagree, but I can be a teensy weensy bit hard to live with. The point is dear husband, I realize my behavior has been a tad bit difficult to handle as of late; what, with my incessant complaints of, "I don't feel so good" or "I don't think it is possible that I get out of this horizontal position this morning" or "Sorry the tornado swept thru the house again."
This morning I thought about how you got me that giant drink of dc with lime last night and how you did homework with the kids and how you put the older kiddos to bed, and then how you scraped my car of all the evil snow this morning and how you are coming home from work in a few hours so I can go to my Dr. appointment monsterless, I mean childless. I added all those things up and I thought, man it is really nice to have a husband. It's really nice to have a husband who wants to help me even if i am just a tiny bit difficult.
so thanks, husband, and I love you.

melanie

P.S. Oh FYI, there is officially like under 10 weeks left of pregnancy induced craziness. Woo-HOO! Then you will have post partum to look forward to. XOXO! Isn't marriage wonderful? (I mean marriage to ME especially).

Maisie Day

Today is Maisie Day. The day we celebrate Jen's little Maisie (our first Swanson cousin!) and her birth 3 years ago. It is our way to remember her, and to remind our kids of their little angel cousin that was only with us for a few short weeks. My kids look forward to Maisie Day and looking at all our Maisie pictures and commenting on her beauty (and her amount of hair!).

A few weeks ago Jonas informed me that when he thinks of someone's name, a color comes to mind. I heard this and knew he was my son. I have strange thoughts such as these. So obviously, this fascinated me and I began quizzing him on people's colors.
I said, "hailey"
he said: pink. (well that one was obvious)
Caleb: green.
mom: red (this could my due to the fact I am his bossy mom)
dad: orange.
jonas: blue
and on and on through all the names of our family. I was laughing to myself as I agreed with him and saw his reasoning for the color assignments.
Then Hailey said: "Maisie"
That's easy, I thought: white. pure, perfect. little angel.
But just as I finish my thought Jonas says,
"Oh maisie? She is every color. She is the rainbow."
I stood corrected.
Maisie, our little rainbow angel.